Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JERRY D. SMITH (SMITH), 52, was sentenced on April 16, 2026, to 63 months imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release, and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee by U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier, after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(C), announced U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – United States Attorney David I. Courcelle announced today that United States District Court Judge Brandon S. Long sentenced FEDERICO MENDEZ-FRANCISCO a/k/a “JORGE SANTOS ARROYO,” a/k/a “JORGE A. GORDILLO,” a/k/a “FEDERICO MENDEZ,” a/k/a “FREDERICO MENDEZ,” a/k/a “FEDERICO MENDEZ FRANCISCO,” (“MENDEZ-FRANCISCO”), on April 14, 2026 to twenty-four (24) months imprisonment. MENDEZ-FRANCISCO, age 44 and a native of Guatemala previously pled guilty to illegal re-entry of a removed alien, in violation of Title 8, United States Code, Section 1326(a). The Court ordered that MENDEZ-FRANCISCO’s term of imprisonment be served consecutively to any other sentence. MENDEZ-FRANCISCO must serve three (3) years of supervised release upon his release from prison and pay a mandatory $100 special assessment cost.
Source: United States Army
CAMP DARBY, Italy – For nearly 70 years, a white marble headstone marked “Unknown” stood in the Florence American Cemetery in Impruneta, overlooking the rolling Tuscan hills. Thousands of visitors passed it, never knowing that the soldier buried there was a 30-year-old from New Haven, Connecticut, who disappeared during a grenade charge in the final months of World War II.
We now have a name: Army Pfc. St. Clair M. Gibson.
“After taking care of this unknown Soldier for all of these years, it was a profound honor to be able to place a rosette by his name knowing he has been identified and returned home to his family,” said Eryth Zecher, Florence American Cemetery superintendent.
After 81 years, we finally have an answer to what happened in those brutal mountains. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) has officially identified Pfc. Gibson, closing a chapter that started in the rugged peaks of the Apennines back in 1944.
Gibson was a “Buffalo Soldier” with the 371st Infantry Regiment, part of the segregated 92nd Infantry Division. These Black service members were on the front lines, fighting to push German forces out of Italy even while facing segregation back home.
On Nov. 18, 1944, Gibson went missing during heavy combat near Monte Canala. Because the terrain around Seravezza was so steep and dangerous, his unit couldn’t recover him before the battle lines shifted.
After the war, investigators found remains on that battlefield, but 1940s technology wasn’t enough to identify them. They labeled him “Unknown X-272 Castelfiorentino” and buried him in the cemetery at Impruneta. By 1949, the Army basically gave up, declaring him “non-recoverable.”
Everything changed in 2017 when researchers decided to exhume “Unknown X-272.” Using modern DNA and dental records, they finally confirmed it was Gibson on May 7, 2025.
“As with all of the service members we watch over, this reaffirms their sacrifices will be remembered and their stories preserved for future generations,” Zecher said.
If you visit the Florence American Cemetery today, you’ll see his name on the “Tablets of the Missing.” Soon, a small bronze rosette will be placed next to it – a quiet symbol that he’s no longer lost.
While his name remains engraved in the stone at Impruneta, Gibson finally went home. He was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on March 10, 2026.
If your travels take you through the heart of Tuscany, make sure to carve out time for a visit to the Florence American Cemetery. It’s a deeply moving site where 4,392 white marble headstones rest among the iconic cypress trees and rolling hills just south of the city. While the cemetery is a peaceful place to visit any day of the year, it truly comes to life during the annual Memorial Day ceremony. Every May, locals and visitors join military members and officials to honor the fallen with heartfelt service, colorful floral wreaths, and a flyover that echoes across the Greve River valley. To know more visit: https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/about-florence-american-cemetery/
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Today a federal jury in the Southern District of West Virginia convicted a West Virginia man for aggravated sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, between September 2006 and December 2006, Dustin Stover Bowles sexually abused a minor known to him while he babysat the minor at his home. The victim disclosed the abuse to several trusted adults in 2020, as well as Army criminal investigators. Bowles was later charged under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act. At the time of his criminal conduct, Bowles had been on active duty with the United States Army, stationed in Hanau, Germany. In addition to the victim identified in the indictment, three additional victims testified that Bowles sexually abused them while they were asleep.
The jury convicted Bowles of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor under the age of 12 while abroad as a member of the armed forces. He is scheduled to be sentenced on August 3 and faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 30 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
“Because of the victim’s courageous disclosure, years after being abused, the jury held Dustin Bowles to account,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This case demonstrates the Department’s commitment to protecting children from abuse and exploitation, even abuses committed decades ago and overseas.”
“Bowles preyed on a child entrusted to his care and committed a calculated, predatory act that shattered that trust in the most unforgivable way,” said United States Attorney Moore Capito for the Southern District of West Virginia. “This was not a mistake — it was a deliberate exploitation of the most vulnerable. The courage of this victim stands in stark contrast to the cruelty of the offender. Those who target children will be found and brought to answer for it — wherever they are and no matter how long it takes.”
“No matter the circumstances, no matter where you are in the world, the FBI will investigate, find, and bring to justice those who think they can prey on the most vulnerable members of our community. Tarnishing the nation’s uniform makes these actions all the more egregious,” said Special Agent in Charge Richard Evanchec of the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office. “The FBI and our international partners will not hesitate to pursue justice across time and borders to protect our children.”
The FBI and the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Division investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Eduardo Palomo of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Rada Herrald from the Southern District of West Virginia are prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A Chicago man was sentenced yesterday to 25 years in federal prison for conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) by using social media to encourage attacks on ISIS’s enemies and recruit ISIS members.
Ashraf Al Safoo was a leader of Khattab Media Foundation, a sophisticated online organization that swore allegiance to ISIS and created and disseminated threats and ISIS propaganda on social media and other online platforms. Al Safoo and other members of Khattab created and posted pro-ISIS videos, articles, essays, and infographics at the direction of, and in coordination with, ISIS. Much of Khattab’s propaganda promoted violent jihad on behalf of ISIS, which has been designated by the United States government as a foreign terrorist organization. In one posting, Al Safoo encouraged Khattab members to post pro-ISIS information “to cause confusion and spread terror within the hearts of those who disbelieved.” In another posting, Al Safoo wrote, “Work hard, brothers, edit the issue into short clips, take the pictures out of it and publish the efforts of your brothers in the pages of the apostates. Participate in the war, and spread terror, the [Islamic] State does not want you to watch it only, rather, it incites you, and if you are unable to, use it to incite others.”
Many of Khattab’s postings included images of violence, celebrations of terrorist attacks and mass shootings in the United States, and encouragement for “lone wolf” attacks in western countries.
Al Safoo, 41, has been in federal custody since his arrest in Chicago in 2018. Al Safoo immigrated to the U.S. in 2008 and naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2013.
After a bench trial last year in U.S. District Court in Chicago, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey found Al Safoo guilty of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy to transmit threats in interstate commerce, conspiracy to intentionally access a protected computer without authorization, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization. Judge Blakey imposed the 25-year prison term during a hearing today in federal court and ordered that it be followed by ten years of court-supervised release.
The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, John A. Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the Department of Justice, and Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas P. Peabody of the Northern District of Illinois and Trial Attorney Andrew J. Dixon of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
The Justice Department announced today the settlement of United States v. David Montanus and Lisa Montanus, the first lawsuit filed by the Civil Rights Division to enforce the Housing Rights Subpart of the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022 (VAWA), 34 U.S.C. § 12495.
The Justice Department’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire in May 2025, alleges that Defendants David and Lisa Montanus violated VAWA when they unlawfully penalized the complainant by evicting her after she sought police assistance for domestic violence. The settlement requires the Defendants to comply with VAWA and prohibits them from making adverse credit reports regarding the complainant’s tenancy. If the Defendants acquire rental properties during the three-year term of the settlement, they must report those acquisitions to the United States and undergo VAWA training. The Defendants must also pay $25,000 to compensate the complainant and her minor children.
“Tenants have a right to request law enforcement and emergency services when they need assistance,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “No one should be faced with the choice of calling for help or losing her housing.”
“Violence against women will never be tolerated in New Hampshire,” said U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan for the District of New Hampshire. “Penalizing survivors of violence with eviction for seeking help revictimizes them. We will use all available legal tools to protect the civil rights of victims.”
“I will not allow women seeking police intervention in a domestic violence situation to later be victimized with an eviction because they sought the assistance of our brave police,” said Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Craig Trainor. “Secretary Turner’s HUD is dedicated to protecting women from violence and ensuring that the fair housing rights of all Americans are protected.”
In 2022, Congress reauthorized VAWA and added provisions that strengthened housing protections for people who require emergency assistance at their homes, including survivors of domestic violence. VAWA provides a right to seek law enforcement or emergency assistance, and prohibits housing providers from taking adverse actions, including eviction or threat of eviction, when a tenant, resident, occupant, or guest seeks emergency assistance.
The case was referred to the Civil Rights Division after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) received a complaint, conducted an investigation, and issued a charge of discrimination.
If you have been penalized by a housing provider for seeking law enforcement or emergency services or have suffered other forms of housing discrimination, call the Justice Department’s Housing Discrimination Tip Line at 1-800-896-7743 or submit a report online. You may also file a report with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development by calling 1-800-669-9777 or submitting a complaint online. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at www.justice.gov/crt.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
MACON, Ga. – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia announced today that it has come to a resolution with Askar Management Group, QSR Group Holdings, LLC, and QSR Southern Group, LLC (collectively, QSR, the owners and operators of Church’s Chicken #749 at 1801 Watson Boulevard, Warner Robins, Georgia), involving an allegation that it improperly excluded an individual with a disability accompanied by a service animal.
Source: United States Navy
To strengthen collaboration with industry, while enhancing warfighter readiness and lethality, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) — to include the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and ONR’s international arm, ONR Global — will host an exhibit at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition, April 19-22, at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.
Source: United States Navy
The Military Sealift Command (MSC) submarine tender USS Frank Cable (AS 40) was announced as a recipient of the fiscal year 2025 Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Afloat Safety Award. The selectees for this award are recognized for significant contributions to Navy safety and occupational health.
Source: United States Airforce
Airmen from the 120th Airlift Wing conducted a solemn C-130H transport mission April 15, bringing the remains of U.S. Army Pvt. Harry David Bordner back to Montana, where he will be laid to rest in his hometown of Butte.